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Jerusalem-At a time when Israel and the Palestinians are discussing their respective visions for the creation of a Palestinian state, the official Palestinian Authority television station has broadcast images of an Israeli map draped with a Palestinian flag.The video clip, which aired as a filler between programs on October 11, showed a map of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip colored red at the top-with green, white and black stripes down the middle of the state. The caption read "Palestine 2007," the Palestinian Media Watch said in a release on Wednesday.Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas demanded last week that the Palestinians be given a state of 6,205 square kilometers that would include the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern Jerusalem-land conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.The image broadcast on the official Palestinian Authority television station reinforces those demands: "The message they [Palestinians] have conveyed to their people for years, and continue to convey on the eve of the [U.S.-hosted] conference, is that 'Palestine' exists and it replaces all of Israel," PMW said.According to PMW, the same message is prevalent throughout children's school textbooks, children's television programs, crossword puzzles, video clips, formal symbols, and school and street names."The picture painted for the Palestinian population, both verbally and visually, is of a world without Israel," the group said.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up her four-day visit to the area on Wednesday after holding a second round of meetings with both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Abbas raised the possibility that the Palestinians might not go to the U.S.-hosted meeting in Annapolis if it would be a "waste of time.""We can't go the conference at any price. This is unacceptable," Abbas was quoted as saying.(The Jerusalem Post quoted a "top P.A. official" as saying he doubted if the Palestinians would attend the conference. "The Americans and Israelis are not serious. We don't want to make fools out of ourselves," the official said, according to the newspaper.)Prior to her meeting with Olmert, Rice sought to downplay expectations for the outcome of the conference, saying everyone knows that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be resolved in November or December."I just want to emphasize that this is a process we are beginning, but it is the most serious process we have had in many years," she said.Rice has been trying to narrow the differences between the Israeli and Palestinian "visions," as the two sides work on a final declaration to be presented at the upcoming conference.Palestinians are still demanding that a final statement at the summit deal with the core issues (refugees, borders, Jerusalem) and provide a timetable for carrying out solutions. Israel wants to mention all the issues but not bind itself to a timetable, which could force Israel to make concessions without meeting its own security concerns.No date has been set for the Annapolis conference, but Rice reportedly will return to the region at least once before it takes place.Rice, who met with Egyptian officials on Tuesday to gain their backing for the summit, was due to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II in London on Thursday.President Bush said on Wednesday that Washington believed that "now is the time to push ahead with a meeting at which the Israelis and Palestinians will lay out a vision of what a state could look like."As in the days of Noah...
